Granted, he pushed the envelope in terms of appropriateness, but come on now — seriously! — isn’t that what all of us are secretly hoping for from any major award event’s comic MC? Without a Ricky Gervais or Chris Rock or someone who’s going to shake the evening up a bit, the event always evolves into something resembling a slow death — an unmemorable, uneventful fizzle.

Chelsea Handler hosted the Mtv Awards recently, and it was obvious that she deliberately toned it down — played it conservatively. I had to switch the channel after about 10 minutes. Boring! More often than not, these comics rose to stardom, because they wouldn’t allow their shtick to be roped into some old Hollywood magnate’s idea of “wholesome & uncontroversial” etiquette.

Now, I don’t enjoy seeing blatant cruelty directed at anyone, but look at who he singled out for a spirited ribbing: Charlie Sheen, Mel Gibson, Hugh Hefner, and some unnamed Scientology stars. And he pummeled Johnny Depp and Angelina Jolie’s latest film, The Tourist. None of them strike me as the kinds who will lose sleep from being joked on by a stand-up comic, like Gervais.

It’s been reported that members of the Hollywood Foreign Press reacted as if his jokes destroyed the entire evening. I’m guessing they’ll soon discover that this year’s Golden Globes will be the most talked about event of the month. And if they were wise enough to bring Gervais back next year, the event would likely garner twice the ratings it did this year — on Gervais’ presence alone.

But that appears unlikely to happen.

Gervais apparently got in the most trouble for making fun of Philip Berk, the current head of the Hollywood Foreign Press Association (HFPA). Another member was quoted as saying to PopEater:

“Ricky will not be invited back to host the show next year, for sure,” a member of the HFPA tells me, adding that Gervais’ relentlessly mean shtick could have even larger consequences. “For sure any movie he makes he can forget about getting nominated. He humiliated the organization last night and went too far with several celebrities whose representatives have already called to complain.”

I doubt Ricky Gervais is worried. His stock has risen considerably after this performance.